1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a random play control method and apparatus for a disc player, and more particularly to a random play control method and apparatus for a compact disc player having a plurality of disc drives, for example, such as both a record/playback drive and a dedicated playback drive, which can perform a random play function that randomly selects and reproduces music stored in the disc drives and in discs inserted in the respective disc drives.
1. Description of the Related Art
With the spread of compact disc players, an audio compact disc commands tremendous popularity based on its prominent quality of sound, and takes its place as the core audio medium. Also, with the spread of portable compact disc players, a user can listen to music recorded in the compact disc even during his/her movement.
Some compact disc players are provided with a random play function. The random play is a function of randomly reproducing music stored in discs inserted in disc drives, without reproducing the music in their recording order, by selecting and reproducing the music through a random process, so that the user can enjoy the music in a dynamic reproduction order.
The random play may be adopted in a disc player having only one record/reproduction disc drive, a disc player having only one dedicated reproduction disc drive, or a disc player having both the record/reproduction disc drive and the dedicated reproduction disc drive.
In comparison to the random play performed through the random process with respect to a disc inserted in a disc drive, the random play performed through the random process with respect to discs inserted in a plurality of disc drives provides the reproduction of music in a diverse reproduction order given between the two disc drives as well as the random reproduction of music stored in the same disc drive, and thus gives the user the effect of listening to music stored in new discs at all times.
However, in case of the random play performed with respect to the discs inserted in a plurality of disc drives, the disc drive being reproduced is changed at any time, and this causes the response speed of the disc drives to deteriorate.
For instance, the random play may be performed for both the discs inserted in the record/reproduction disc drive A and the dedicated reproduction disc drive B.
If the music being first reproduced is stored in the drive A, the music to be reproduced in the second reproduction order in the drive B, the music to be reproduced in the third order in the drive A, and the music to be reproduced in the fourth order in the drive B, respectively, the corresponding music should be searched and reproduced as the two drives A and B are alternately driven.
Such a frequent driving operation performed between the two drives A and B causes the power consumption to increase, and causes the search response speed to decrease since it is repeated that, after the reproduction of the music in one drive is terminated, the other drive is driven and then the music to be reproduced is searched from the corresponding disc.
As a result, the random play performed in the conventional compact disc player having a plurality of disc drives has the disadvantages in that it suffers from increased power consumption and decreased response speed due to the frequent driving operation between the two disc drives.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems involved in the related art, and to provide a random play control method and apparatus for a disc player which can reduce the frequent driving operation performed between respective disc drives during the performance of random play, and improve the search response speed.
In determining the music subject to random play and the reproduction order of the music, the random play control method and apparatus according to the present invention determines with respect to each disc drive a weighted value for determining how long the reproduction of music is continuously performed in a specified disc drive, determines a reproduction order of the music subject to random play in accordance with the determined weighted value of the disc drive, and then reproduces the corresponding music in the determined reproduction order.
Also, if the music to be reproduced in the next reproduction order is not stored in the currently reproducing disc drive, but is stored in the other disc drive, the random play control method and apparatus of the present invention starts in advance of the reproduction thereof from the corresponding disc drive to be driven in the next reproduction order before a predetermined time before the music being currently reproduced terminates, and thus the reproduction of the next music is continuously performed without interruption, to improve the search response speed.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a random play control method for a disc player comprising the steps of (a) obtaining music information from discs inserted in N (Nxe2x89xa72) disc drives, (b) determining music subject to random play and a reproduction order of the music by determining weighted values of the respective disc drives using the music information, and (c) randomly reproducing the music in the determined reproduction order.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a random play control apparatus for a disc player, comprising N (Nxe2x89xa72) disc drives for reproducing data recorded in discs, means for detecting music information from the discs inserted in the disc drives, means for determining music subject to random play and a reproduction order of the music from the detected music information by applying different weighted values to the respective disc drives, and means for reproducing the corresponding music from the corresponding disc by driving the corresponding disc drive in accordance with the determined reproduction order.
In the present invention, the weighted value is for determining how long the random play of the music is continuously performed in a specified disc drive.
Also, in the present invention, the weighted value of the currently reproducing disc drive is determined to be greater than that of the other disc drive, or the same weighted value is determined with respect to all the disc drives.
Also, according to the present invention, if the music to be reproduced in the next reproduction order is not stored in the currently reproducing disc drive, but is stored in the other disc drive, the corresponding disc drive is controlled to be in a reproduction standby state by starting in advance of the reproduction thereof from the corresponding disc drive to be driven in the next reproduction order before a predetermined time before the music being currently reproduced terminates.
Also, according to the present invention, the random process of the music stored in the disc drives and the discs inserted in the disc drives in a compact disc player provided with a plurality of disc drives is performed in a manner that the selection weighted value of the disc that stores the selected music is determined to be greater than that of the disc that does not store the selected music, and thus the frequency of changing the disc drive that is reproducing the music is reduced to stably perform the random play.
Also, if the music to be reproduced in the next reproduction order is stored in the other disc drive, the corresponding disc drive is in the reproduction standby state by starting in advance of the reproduction thereof from the corresponding disc drive before the music being currently reproduced terminates, and thus the search response speed can be improved.